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On 15 Mar 2013, at 18:10, VC <[email protected]> wrote: > Basics, Part 9b > > <09b LeninProfile.jpg> > Lenin > > Class Society and the State > > The first chapter from "The State and Revolution" is attached, and > downloadable from the link below. Lenin wrote the book between the February > 1917 bourgeois-democratic revolution in Russia, and the October 1917 > proletarian revolution. > > The October Revolution dramatically interrupted his writing, leaving the work > unfinished. > > SACP Deputy General Secretary Jeremy Cronin has remarked that South Africa is > in some ways stuck “between February and October”, meaning to compare our > SA situation during the 18 years since 1994 with the eight months in > 1917 between the two Russian revolutions. > > The urgency of Lenin’s revolutionary purpose is apparent from the first > paragraph, as is the priority he gives to the understanding of The State as a > product of, and integral to, the exploitative class-divided social system > that the Bolsheviks were determined to overthrow, and therefore a matter of > the highest revolutionary priority. > > Hence the first words are a definition and a challenge to those who would > think otherwise: “The State: a Product of the Irreconcilability of Class > Antagonisms” > > In the first paragraph Lenin refers to the embracing of “Marxism” by the > respectable bourgeoisie, and their pleasure at the amenability of “the labour > unions which are so splendidly organized for the purpose of waging a > predatory war!” > > The world war that was raging at the time was not merely an incidental > background to the Russian Revolutions of 1917. As with the lethal global > neo-liberalism of today, the warmongers had seduced the major part of the > social-democratic organisations that claimed to represent the working class. > The organised structures of the working class had turned against the working > class, and the crux of the matter was the question, then as now, of The > State. > > Lenin is unequivocal: > > “The state is a product and a manifestation of the irreconcilability of class > antagonisms. The state arises where, when and insofar as class antagonism > objectively cannot be reconciled. And, conversely, the existence of the state > proves that the class antagonisms are irreconcilable.” > > Lenin proceeds to write that the overthrow of the bourgeois state has to be > direct and forcible, whereas the withering-away of the proletarian state can > only be the indirect consequence of the progressive disappearance of class > antagonism during the transitional period called socialism. "The State and > Revolution" goes to the very heart of the revolutionary theory of class > struggle, sharpens all contradictions, and draws clear lessons - lessons that > are still relevant today, and especially in South Africa. > > > The above is to introduce the original reading-text: State and Revolution, > C1, Class Society and The State, Lenin. > > A PDF file of the reading text is attached > > To download any of the CU courses in PDF files please click here. > > > -- > Communist University: > CU Downloads: sites.google.com/site/cu2012courses/ > E-mail forums: CU; YCLSA; CU-Africa; SADTU > Blogs: CU; YCLSA; CU-Africa; SADTU > Moderator: [email protected] > > -- > -- > You are subscribed. This footer can help you. > Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to > this message. > You can visit the group WEB SITE at > http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery > options, pages, files and membership. > To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . > You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put > anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this > address (repeat): [email protected] . > > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > <11093, Lenin, The State and Revolution, C1, Class Society and the State, > 1917.pdf> -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
